Greyhounds hold off Lady Stags in playoff opener

February 15, 2012

Deer Park's Tessa Heins tries to shake off Pullman's Anna Guo in first half action on Tuesday.

The Pullman Greyhounds survived a flurry of long range shooting by the Deer Park Lady Stags to win the opening round District VII tournament 51-49 on Tuesday.
The win propelled the Greyhounds (9-11) into the double-elimination portion of the tournament, while the Lady Stags ended their season at 11-10.
Trailing 49-38 with 2:14 to play, Deer Park closed the margin on 3-pointers from Danielle Beltrame, Tessa Heins and Alison Ruygrok but could not catch the Greyhounds.
Pullman, which led 39-37 going into the fourth quarter, used its inside game to stretch its lead to a big enough margin to withstand the Lady Stags’ final run.
For most of the first three quarters, both teams traded the lead.
Deer Park led 21-15 midway through the second quarter on a Beltrame 3-pointer, only to have Pullman rally to take a 24-22 lead at halftime.
The Greyhounds led 34-26 in the third quarter on Dakota Wickard basket only to have the Stags surge ahead on a Heins’ 3-pointer 37-35 with minute left in the quarter.
Pullman responded with a 10-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way.
Beltrame, who hit five 3-pointers, took scoring honors with 20 points while Heins added 17 more. Drake led Pullman with 19 points and Wickard finished with 18.